Possibilities
by PleasedAsPunch
Summary: Fluffy one-shot with the 10 and Rose.  Just fun.


**A/N: I wrote this pretending that that Neil Gaiman episode with the 11****th**** Doctor and the woman-TARDIS doesn't set canon on the dynamic between the Doctor and the TARDIS, that is, in this fic, the TARDIS and the Doctor aren't shamelessly flirtatious with each other. Enjoy!**

_I don't know what to tell you! I'm just trying to be honest. I owe you that much, _the Doctor thought.

The TARDIS made an irritated humming noise within his mind and he threw up his arms in defeat.

_You were the one who asked in the first place! _he thought. _Yes, I know we've been together longer. And we've travelled more together and had more adventures…but with you it's more like…_

The TARDIS tinkled quietly and the Doctor mulled over her suggestion.

_Yeah, you're more like a sister. I think that describes us well. _

The TARDIS hummed.

_But you like her. I know you do. You take her side more often than you take mine. She's your favorite, she is._

The TARDIS agreed.

_Ha! See? You're not really as angry as you say you are._

He felt a golden chord pluck in the back of his mind. It made his body hum with happiness.

_I can't do anything about it. We're not like that. You should know that more than anybody._

This time the TARDIS was not so sedate, and he covered his ears instinctually, even though it did nothing to stop the noise with which she was filling his mind.

_I know what I said! I know! But that doesn't mean that I can do anything about it….What do you mean I owe it to you? I…_there was a long pause as the TARDIS flooded his mind again, this time with the volume down. _I owe it to you to be happy?_

She nodded. Then she replayed their earlier words to each other.

…_Do I love her? Of course I do. _

…_More than you? I…_

_Yes. I do._

When she ended the replay, she simply remained silent.

_I'm sorry. You and me…but with her…it's different. Please don't be jealous._

The TARDIS told him squarely that she was NOT jealous.

_Fine, then. So what are you on about?_

Before the Doctor could react, the TARDIS berated his mind with possibility. Images flashed within his mind. He and Rose together. Holding hands. Hugging. Foreheads touching. Sighs. Kissing. Lots and lots of kissing. Touching. All the touching. Everything. Every possibility. The possibility of forever, a real forever. Their future. Travelling. Being together. Really, really being together. Being partners. Being mates. Being _that kind of mates_. Feelings of finality and purpose. Completion. Forgiveness. Reciprocity. Love. _Have this_, she seemed to say. _For me. Do it for me if you won't do it for yourself._

It left him completely breathless, and he leaned over the jump seat, struggling for air. Then the TARDIS withdrew, and there was silence.

"Doctor?" he heard from a quiet voice across the console room. "Doctor, are you okay?"

He looked up. There was Rose walking towards him, her face full of concern.

"Maybe you should sit down, yeah? Do you want some tea? Or a banana?"

He breathed in again, this time deeply, trying to overcome this sensation of dizziness that he had never really experienced before.

"No," he said finally.

"Okay. Then…are you okay?" She sat down next to him, feeling his forehead, not that she would know what temperature to feel for, considering he was a different species. Abandoning this, she simply reached down and stroked the back of his hand.

"No," he said again. "Maybe. Depends."

He inhaled again, trying to gain control of himself. He looked up at her from his slouched position in the jump seat. Her eyes were brown and melty with wonderful little flecks of gold that made him simultaneously the strongest and the weakest man in the universe.

"Depends on what?" She turned to face him so that her legs were crossed.

"Everything. But mostly you."

She gave him a confused look as she tilted her head to the side, not understanding.

"What happened, Doctor?" she asked. "You…I've never seen you like this before."

"TARDIS blitzed me."

"Sorry, what?"

"Sometimes the TARDIS _doesn't really understand boundaries_," he said, emphasizing the last part of his sentence, hoping that the TARDIS would get the idea. "And she can get a little insistent and aggressive. And when she has something she really feels needs saying, she doesn't hold back."

"And this was one of those times?"

"Exactly."

"So you'll be okay?" she asked, brushing some of the hair out of his eyes. The feeling of her warm fingers against his skin made his heart rates pick up again.

"It still depends."

"Still on me?"

"That's usually how it goes."

"What did the TARDIS 'blitz' you with?"

"Every possibility."

"Ever? Like for everything in all of space and time? That _is_ rather a lot of possibilities. No wonder you're so breathless." The corner of her mouth quirked up in a teasing smile.

"Not every possibility, Rose…"

"Then…?"

"Ours. Our possibilities."

"You mean, you and me?"

"Yep."

"We have possibilities?"

He sat up and rolled his head around, stretched his arms and legs, and then looked at her.

"Endless, it seems."

"I don't understand." Her heart rate was quickening and she couldn't stop staring at his lips, his face, all of him, really.

"The TARDIS is under the impression that we could have quite the future ahead of us, should certain events occur."

"Of course we have quite the future ahead of us! It's us! But what do you mean, what 'events'?"

"Well," he said, inhaling nervously. "Can I show you?"

That was it; her heart was going to beat out of its ribcage. His were, too. They had unconsciously leaned in towards each other, their breaths shaky.

"Please."

Without hesitation, or minding the tittering of what was likely laughter from the TARDIS in the back of his mind, he pressed his lips to hers, softly and gingerly, as if he was not entirely certain that he was doing the right thing. He barely moved his lips, it was more of a tentative pressure, the ghost of an action that could be.

After a moment, he pulled away.

"Was…was that okay?"

She looked at him with eyes the size of craters, her mouth open in shock. It caused him to panic. Maybe shouldn't have done that. _Damn you, TARDIS_.

"Y-yes. That was perfectly alright."

"Just alright?" he asked.

"Well, I do think that it probably could have been better."

"W-what?" He was going to continue, but she cut him off, this time kissing him, and definitely not-so-tentatively. It was a short moment before he could really get all of his scrambled Time Lord thoughts in order before he could respond properly, but when he did, he did with gusto.

Their lips crashed on one another's, everything very desperate, confused, but very, very enthusiastic.

When they released, they were both panting, resting their foreheads against each other's.

"The TARDIS told you to do that?" she whispered.

"Not told, really, just insisted that I should."

"Good girl, she is."

"Always has been."

"And these 'possibilities' that you talked about…what exactly were they?"

"Just a lot of forever with you."

"Do we do a lot of what we just did in that forever?" she asked, smiling.

He looked at her with a half-pained glance, not knowing if full-disclosure on that front would be in bad taste.

"That…and other things," he responded with apprehension.

He sighed a breath of relief when she responded by kissing him lightly on the forehead.

"But she's not telling the future, is she? She can't really do that, even if she does travel through space and time."

He paused to think.

"No…what I think…what I think she was doing was…speculating. Based on the information she'd gathered. She probably knows us better than we know ourselves. And then she probably created some…hmm…mock-ups, I suppose, of our potential future together, were I to…kiss you."

"Right." There was a very pregnant pause. "Doctor…did we just get match-made by a sentient space/time ship?"

He smiled a crooked smile and pulled lightly in his ear-lobe.

"I suppose we did. Saucy minx. I take it, then, that you're open to these possibilities?"

"I'm open to anything when it comes to you. I…" she trailed off, not knowing if she was jumping the figurative gun.

"You?..."

"I love you."

"That's brilliant, that is." He gathered her into his arms and swung her around in the air. When he brought her back down, he kissed her again sloppily and with increasing urgency.

"That's all I get? 'That's brilliant'?" she said incredulously when they broke their kiss.

"Oh! Sorry. I forgot. You distracted me, you know, by being you. I love you, too. Sorry, I thought you knew that."

She rolled her eyes at him and drew him close, her voice dropping to a whisper.

"Perhaps, then, we should go somewhere more horizontal and try out some of these _possibilities_."

"Quite right, too."

It was at this moment, that if such a thing is possible, the TARDIS may have done her own version of a fist pump, and she discreetly withdrew her presence from the third bedroom down the hall.

**Please review!**


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